PANDAs causes inflammation in the brain which can trigger drastic mood swings, tics, anxiety and OCD

Nikki recalled: “She came to my Slimming World class with me.

“All of a sudden she leapt up onto the chair and hugged her knees and laughed hysterically. I didn’t really know how to react. I tried to talk to her and clam her down but she was sort of in a daze.

“We went out for dinner same day and she sat in the corner and laughed hysterically there, too. I was so shocked and again I just tried to calm her down. It was very very odd.”

In a bid to control Amelia’s response to infection, she had her tonsils removed in September 2017 and was officially diagnosed with PANDAs in November, by doctors at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary, Wigan, after continually presenting with very high strep levels.

But even after surgery, she continued to develop infections, causing new tics, including licking her lips so much the skin came off, causing her to be hospitalised for a day in December.

Since then, Amelia has been stuck in a vicious cycle, with her response to infections triggering increasingly worrying tics.

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Nikki added: “There have been times when she’s been curled up in the corner of the room, lashing out, or throwing something across the room, if you speak to her.

“I have worried about her lashing out at me or Brooke. I know she doesn’t mean any harm, but her behaviour can be really uncontrolled.

“It’s really stressful for me, because the tics are changing all the time and now her tonsils have been removed, we don’t always know what is causing the infection.

“In the last few weeks, Amelia has started to settle down and she hasn’t had as many tics, but we are always aware that they could change at any point.

“When everything settles down, it’s great. because I get my little girl back, but I know she could go at any point and act as if she’s possessed.”

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